Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones

9 reviews

julissadantes's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Rape

juniperbranches's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This absolute brick of a book is a gorgeous window into feudal Spain. Arnau is only an infant when his father Bernat is forced to take the child and hide in the city of Barcelona as a runaway serf. According to the laws of the land, if the two can survive a year and a day in Barcelona they both become free men, no longer indentured to their feudal lord. This is the beginning of Arnau’s life and sorrows in the city of Barcelona. The plague, the Spanish Inquisition, heart break, starvation and more dog Arnau’s heels persistently, but his dedication to the people of his adopted city and his love of the Virgin Mary displayed in the Santa Maria church get him through. 

I read this as an introduction to the city of Barcelona as we will be landing there in 3 days and I wanted to get a feel for the city and it’s history. In that respect it’s an amazing book. In terms of pacing, characterization and story telling it has its slow moments. The author occasionally gets carried away with the history and the dialogue can get clunky, but overall I enjoyed it. I feel like I know the city a little bit and I’m very excited to visit Santa Maria while we are there!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

sace's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

There were parts I liked and characters I liked, but basically every female was going to get raped and

it totally grossed me out that Arnau and his adopted daughter fell in love with each other and ended up together . 🤮

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Rape

estefizaga's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.25

Keep in mind, this book takes place in Barcelona of the XIV century ... Very different beliefs from ours. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Violence, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Infidelity, Classism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

briemont5's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Misogyny

lecallahan's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful

4.5

I read this while studying in Barcelona, and the connection I had personally to the setting of the book and it’s people made me feel so strongly towards this story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

a_blue_sun's review

1.5

If you don’t want to read about large amounts of sexual violence towards women, skip this book. The translation is clunky and I felt like the series dragged. As far as I can tell the book is well-researched and historically accurate. Most of he characters seemed flat and uninteresting, and I don’t think any of the female characters had any motivations that weren’t directly connected to the central male character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, and Slavery

Moderate: Islamophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape

luciarxngel's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

agusmajo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape